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The Missouri Trout Odyssey is a trip that Brian Wise and I dreamed up more than 4 years ago. It originally started with each of us trying to bluff the other one into a “megatrip in the ozarks”, then it morphed in to how many streams can we fish and how fast can we fish them. What has resulted is a helluva appreciation for all the trout water Missouri has to offer and a great time in the process, with lots of stories, pics, and videos along the way. Each MTO is something that really can be explained in words — photos and video do it best. But the best way to experience it is to get out there and do it yourself…..besides it is only 1200+ miles and 21 trout streams over 4 days. As the years go on, less and less planning go into this trip, but we finish every trip telling each other that this is the last year we do it…..only to come back a year or two later and do it again.

Day 3 was our biggest drive day. After breaking camp early on Saturday morning (much to the surprise of the 2 other groups camping in the campground), we headed south on a 130 mile journey to our next destination, Hickory Creek. This little creek hasn’t really treated us well over the years of doing MTO, earning such nicknames as “the shithole”, but this year a new leaf was turned over. Hickory Creek was the most surprising creek of this year’s MTO with several big fish presenting opportunities to both Wise and I (with no love, other than a hookup or two). This was our longer driving day, and had us after finishing up at Roaring River, heading over to Taneycomo for some quick night fishing. It was a long day, with more mexican food and lots of windshield time.

On Day 3 we covered Hickory Creek, Capps Creek, Crane Creek, Roaring River, and Roaring River Trout Park, and Lake Taneycomo. 6 more streams covered, for 17 total fished in 3 days. Here are the photos from Day 3.